This story starts all the way back in the year 2000 of the Modern Midgar calendar in the Trade City of Ydalir. Originally, there was no city or anything there, but one was strongly petitioned for by the merchants and travelers who had to go on long journeys between countries and had no resting point. Since the area where Ydalir now stood was right in the middle of these different countries, each one wanted it for themselves. As a result of all of them glaring each other down, Ydalir was completed as a lawless, neutral land that didn't belong to anyone.
It was a strange, abnormal occurrence. It was unprecedented for a piece of land whose only feature was that it was surrounded by all major countries to end up as a territory that belonged to no one, even though it seemed like it could belong to anyone. By gaining that land, a country would get a leg up on its peers. In the event of war, it would serve as a forward base as well as a secure point for supply routes. That was why every country was sizing up the others, but none of them could actually take it.
Each country expressed ownership over the land, argued about it, and sometimes even came to blows. Eventually, it all became so complicated that it was impossible to sort out the resulting mess of politics. But the situation couldn't be allowed to sit. Since the land belonged to no country, the land was also beholden to no country's laws. It was lawless. There were no knights nor a vigilante corps. So obviously, the place had become most inhospitable for merchants. In fact, it was the perfect hunting ground for bandits and the like.
Merchants had to pass through terrain-wise, though. They couldn't detour around it. But even if they did, they would definitely be assaulted. This was no joke to a merchant, and there was no greater deal for ruffians, either. But then, a single merchant threw a stone in the pond.
Let's create a neutral space here, he thought, before using his own personal funds to found a small village and hire mercenaries.
Others thought of it as a waste of money at first, since he did it all himself, but several more merchants agreed and helped expand the village.
After a couple years, the population only grew, eventually turning the place into a city. The location was always high in foot traffic, after all. People had to pass through to get to other countries. The flow of people and goods was naturally high, so as long as it was safe, people would flood in.
Before anyone noticed, the area stopped being a buffet for bandits and became a strange city that stood neutral from all the different countries. The countries who'd noticed this tried to put the city under their thumb. It was only natural, but each country got in the way of the others, and none of their efforts bore any fruit. It was also obvious that trying to take the land by force would invite rebellion by all the merchants, so any smart king had no choice but to accept that attempting to take the city was dangerous. On the other hand, foolish kings who still attempted to do so were completely snubbed by merchants everywhere and eventually incurred the wrath of their people after a serious decline in their livelihoods.
That was how the Trade City of Ydalir grew to rival the large capitals of other countries. It was a truly ridiculous story. But history was rife with the kind of stories where your only reaction upon reading it is, "No way!"
Ydalir belonged to no country and had no king nor castle. But all goods and trade were concentrated in Ydalir. People, things, and adventures were concentrated there as well.
If anyone were to carry themselves to this bar they'd find it reminiscent of a cesspool. The place would be filled with thugs in dirty armor getting drunk, and the air would reek of body odor and could only be called unsanitary.
While baths did exist in this world, the only ones who would use them regularly were the rich and affluent.
These people were adventurers. While the name might sound cool, they were the black sheep of society. They had no education, no skills, no agency, and nowhere else to go. The only place left for people like that was somewhere that would hire anyone but also not care if any of their employees died. And the job description was 'adventurer.'
But there was something off about the three adventurers sitting at a corner table.
All of them were beautiful women. It wasn't like female adventurers didn't exist. While they were few and far between, they still weren't exactly hard to find. But women usually had other job options outside of being an adventurer, even without an education or training. They could always just sell their bodies. That was why most women naturally drifted that way whenever they lost all other prospects. They didn't want to sell their bodies, of course, but it was a far better option than becoming an adventurer and selling their lives for a pittance. By becoming a prostitute, they were at least guaranteed food, clothing, and housing.
Of course, becoming a prostitute still had some requirements in the looks department. In other words, women who couldn't even fulfill that became adventurers. It wasn't nice to say, but female adventurers weren't good-looking, since good-looking women would pretty much never come to such a dump of a bar. That was why this group was so strange.
The first woman was an armored woman with scarlet red hair who seemed like the picture of a female warrior from story. She didn't differ much from other adventurers. But her looks and trained body were comparable to a knight's, and she didn't give off the impression that she was as filthy and unhygienic as the other adventurers. Her armor did seem a little old and worn, but it was properly cared for and all the more beautiful for that.
To her right was a beautiful young elf woman with azure blue hair, whose race was rarely seen in places like these. Just like all elves, she had the complete set of good looks.
Her face was very well-proportioned, and it seemed like she'd be constantly hounded by men.
It might have been because she couldn't bear the weight, but she wasn't wearing any armor or equipped with a sword or similar weapon. She most likely didn't need any, though. All elves were specialists in magic. While magic took more time to prepare, spells were generally stronger and more effective than swords. Most importantly, they were free. If a person had heaven-arts at their disposal, they'd probably be able to put up a better defense than any armor, too.
The elf, who would normally be very coveted by governing countries, was instead laughing merrily in a garbage dump of a bar. Who knew what she was thinking?
The last was another strange woman who was a sight to behold. She was so beautiful she just didn't fit the atmosphere of the bar. She wasn't just beautiful. She was beautiful enough that, if asked, 99% of people would say they'd never seen a woman more beautiful than her. She had pitch-black wings growing out of her back, telling the world that she was a flugel. And by looking at her wings, it was also easy to understand why she had no place within the flugels's society.
But Ydalir was a human town, and it was only a little ways away from a human country. There would be any number of nobles willing to employ her on the basis of her looks alone, regardless of what color her wings were. In fact, she might have been all the more sought after, since black wings were so rare. With how good she looked, she'd be able to survive anywhere and get protection from anybody. There was no need to come all the way to a place like this to sell her life for cheap.
But she was here anyway like her friends. They drank cheap swill like it was only natural and laughed along together. And they looked for a request to sell their life cheaply once again today.
"What about this one? It wants us to collect a fang from a dragon that settled down in some ruins. We'll get 50,000 el. It's the best paying one recently, for sure."
It was the black-wing girl who spoke. Lunaru Fenris casually chose a paper from among the requests and took it. The request needed them to fight the prideful dragon, the strongest monster among many species of monsters, and rip off a fang to bring back. It wasn't some wyvern that only looked like a dragon. It was a real dragon.
Dragons were strong. Very much so. After all, they had already been dinosaurs before being mutated, so once they had, dragons got even stronger.
It was easy logic to follow. Any normal monster would run in a heartbeat when faced with a dragon, and humanity only rarely tried anything against them.
Even if humans seriously wanted to defeat one, an entire country would need to deploy all its knights and other forces for it. If they idiotically tried to face the dragon head-on, they'd get repelled with massive losses. The dragon would build a mountain of corpses if they did that. Any country attempting the feat would need to formulate a perfect strategy complete with traps to attempt to even the gap in power. And even then, it would be hard to call the fight equal. Humanity would still be at a disadvantage. While the chances of winning weren't zero, the human side would suffer huge losses, even if they won. In fact, they'd probably lose most of the people deployed against the dragon.
That was why dragons were fundamentally allowed to go untouched.
While countries would have no choice but to respond in kind if the dragon attacked, leaving it alone was by far the best choice if the dragon wasn't attacking. Dragons might burn down villages near them, but that still wouldn't even compare to the losses that would be incurred while trying to fight one. With that in mind, most countries had no choice but to allow the villages to burn. That was just what dragons were like. They were true monsters.
So the fact that a request wanted only a couple adventurers to fight one was literally like telling them to go die. That was why the request had gone unanswered. No one was willing to commit suicide like that, especially for a measly 50,000 el.
"I don't know, Naru. Sure, 50,000 will have us set for money for a while, but it's not enough to set us up for life. This isn't worth it. Yeah, being in some sort of epic tale where we defeat a dragon would be amazing, but our lives are more important. Don't you think so, Juvia?" The female warrior, Erza, commented at the ridiculousness of the request before turning to the elf girl beside her for agreement.
The elf girl, Juvia, also nodded. "Honestly, is the poster of this request an idiot? This kind of request should be sent to an entire country rather than adventurers. Well, most countries would just leave any dragon that wasn't actively attacking alone, though," Juvia said coldly as she took the paper from Naru and threw it back onto the table. Then, she picked up a different request form and showed it to the others. "Setting aside Naru's joke, how about this one? It wants us to kill a wyvern that's settled near a village. The reward for completing it is 6,000 el. It's just a wyvern, not a type of dragon. We should be able to deal with this one cleanly."
"It wasn't a joke, though."
"Just let it go. I'm begging you, Naru."
Wyverns were monster forms of lizards, crocodiles, or something similar.
They were imitation dragons that looked the part but didn't have the corresponding strength, thus their name. Basically, they looked like tough dragons, but that was all a bluff. They still required a certain amount of strength, and there was no doubt that they were tough opponents for adventurers, but to these three, they weren't that scary. Especially not to Naru. To her, wyverns were probably nothing more than small-fry that could be dealt with in a single hit.
"Sure, that looks fine."
"Well… I have no objections, I guess."
Both Erza and Naru agreed to the quest, so their activity for the day was decided. All that was left was to head over to the village and take care of the wyvern real quick. But just when the party was about to set off, Erza scrunched up her face as if she'd just remembered something.
"Ah, sorry. Let me buy a weapon first before we leave. My sword's at its limit."
It was only natural for adventurers to have to supply their own weapons and armor. Knights or soldiers employed at a nation's castle would have their weapons and armor supplied to them, but adventurers provided for themselves. In order to earn money, they needed weapons. And in order to buy weapons, they needed to earn money. Almost all adventurers tripped over this vicious cycle and had to go out on requests with cheap swords or otherwise dull weapons. This was one of the reasons why so many adventurers died so quickly.
On that point, Erza could be considered a veteran. She thoroughly understood that a good, reliable weapon would see her live through her requests.
"I don't mind. I want a new weapon, too. Can I come with you?"
"Don't you fight bare-handed?"
"I've been hooked on using all sorts of weapons recently."
Unlike Erza, who was faithful to her sword, Naru was mastering fighting with both her fists and swords. As for sword skills, Naru had exceeded Erza in that respect, too, since she had mastered both the Warrior and Swordmaster classes, while Erza had decided to continue with Warrior even after reaching level 100. Naru had recently mastered the Monster Tamer class as well and was now raising levels as an Alchemist. Erza felt she had no sense of fidelity.
"Well, that's how it is. Please wait a little, Juvia."
"No, I'll go with you two. I was thinking it's about time for me to get a weapon, anyway."
Unlike Erza and Naru, Juvia was a complete back line magic specialist, so she didn't really need a weapon. The only weapon she carried was a knife for emergency self-defense, and she had almost no occasion to use it.
But that didn't mean she would never get close to an enemy, so having a weapon was still useful.
When Juvia first became an adventurer, she'd only been level 40. But now, she had gotten all the way up to level 130, so she was feeling how insufficient her weapon was. To her, this was the perfect time to make a switch.
"Then I guess we're all going." Erza smiled as she left the bar.
Naru and Juvia followed after her, and they moved through the city of Ydalir.
The street traffic was dense and moved fast, and merchants from different countries could be seen swapping information as well as goods. They were even selling travel provisions, which were a lifesaver for adventurers.
"Oh? Hey, Naru, was there a weapons shop there before?"
It was obvious Erza was currently aiming to go to a weapons shop. The shop she was aiming for was a place she'd frequented even before meeting Naru and Juvia, and it should have been just a little ways ahead of them.
However, there was also a different weapons shop that lay along their path.
That wasn't exactly rare, though. Many people came and went in Ydalir, and it was a regular occurrence for a shop to be closed down for some reason or another, only to be acquired by someone else and turned into a different store.
"No, there wasn't. That store should have dealt in medicinal herbs. Well, the owner probably went back to their country, and someone else bought the space."
"Oh…? Hey, wanna go take a look?" Erza, showing some interest, started walking towards the new weapons store.
It was just like her to ask something but take action before hearing an answer. Both Naru and Juvia already knew what she was like, so they just shrugged and silently followed after her. What awaited them when they entered were weapons of surprisingly good make.
"Ohhh? Hey, you two, these are amazing. I'm not that well-versed in weapons, but even I can feel the power coming off this sword."
"You're exaggerating. It could just be a good-looking piece of shit. Ydalir's full of stuff like that."
While Erza was really excited with a sword in hand, Juvia was there to pour some cold water on her enthusiasm, though she was even more clueless about weapons than Erza was. But what Juvia said was true.
Examples of people buying weapons that looked good but quickly broke in actual use were common. That was why it was important to carefully choose the weapons shops and blacksmiths you frequented and build up trust. Erza knew that, which was why she'd always stuck to the same shop.
But that was when Naru stepped in.
"No… I can tell, because I've started down the path of an alchemist… This one is good. It's of a much higher quality than most other weapons you'll find around here. But this is strange. Why is it so cheap when the product is this good…?"
Naru picked up several weapons and compared them, only to find that they were all of exceptionally high quality. They were leaps and bounds above what was offered in most weapons shops and cheaper as well.
Even knights employed by a country may not have access to something this good…
"The blacksmith is… Jenny? All these weapons are top-shelf, but I've never heard this name before. I can't believe that someone this skilled is so unknown."
Weapons and armor were always engraved with the name of their maker.
All the weapons here were engraved with the same name, 'Jenny,' which couldn't be seen in any other shop.
Is they a new blacksmith that just came into their own? No, this isn't the skill of someone new. But I've never heard this name. Just where has this person with so much skill been all this time?
"Fufufufu! This name'll become famous in the future. You won't lose out by buying it now!"
A loud and audacious voice called out from the back of the store to Naru and the others, who were looking at the weapons. Turning around, they saw a small, blond haired girl carrying a huge backpack.
"A… dwarf?"
"You got it! My name is Jenny Pollendina. One day, I'll be known as the woman who made the world's best weapon. All the ones you see here are practice pieces that didn't make the cut as the world's best, so buy them if you like. I can use as much money as I can get to make weapons, after all."
The dwarf girl, who'd introduced herself as Jenny, spoke of her grand dreams before trying to sell them weapons. That was when it clicked for Naru why she was so unknown, even though her products were so good.
Contrary to how they looked, dwarves were very dexterous and had almost otherworldly skills when it came to blacksmithing in particular. But they normally holed up in caves or somewhere similar, so it was rare for a human to see the products of their skills. She must have been just like that, except for the part where she had a dream. So she must have come up against a wall within the narrow world in which dwarves normally lived and left for a human town.
"The world's best weapon? That's great! I admire that! I'm gonna be the world's best swordsman, so that's just perfect for me!"
Erza immediately got in tune with Jenny and the size of her dreams, since she was also a girl dreaming to be the world's best at something. Their dreams were similar, so she must have felt closer.
So Naru snuck in a jab, which caused Erza's face to scrunch up. "As it is now, my skill with a sword is better than yours, though."
"Sh-shut up… I'll surpass you someday," Erza said, undaunted, before looking over the swords and picking the one that fit her best.
"Right. I'm gonna pick this one. It feels the best, so I'm buying this."
"Sure, thanks. That'll be 700 el."
After paying for the sword and its scabbard, Erza hung the new weapon from her waist. She'd been planning to buy a new weapon before the job, but this was a stroke of luck. Dwarven weapons were always of good quality. It would become a reliable partner for Erza on her adventures.
"Oh, from how you look, all of you are adventurers, right? Did you come because you took my request?"
"Request? Did you put one out? What was it for?" Erza returned the question and waited for Jenny to answer.
Since Jenny was running a weapons shop, Erza could pretty much guess what the request would be about. It was most likely something to do with materials for weapons, something like a monster's fangs or claws or maybe some sort of rare metal. There was no doubt in Erza's mind that Jenny had asked for something like that. Erza thought it would be fine to accept if it was just something on that level. After all, this store dealt in high-quality weapons, and Erza knew she'd come back to this shop a lot, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave a good impression now. Erza's thought process was half calculation and half just liking Jenny, but it was quickly blown away by what came out of the dwarf girl's mouth next.
"Good of you to ask. You see, there are some ruins about three days's travel by carriage from here. A dragon's settled down there, right? And I'm sure one of its fangs will make for great material."
"…What?"
"My request was to go punch that dragon's lights out and get me a fang. How about it? I've been waiting for so long. Someone's ought to have taken it by now, right?"
"…"
After hearing Jenny's explanation, the three of them all thought back to the request form that Naru had been thinking of picking up.
Erza was slack-jawed with shock, and she turned her face up to the heavens.
Oh. I see. I get it now. This girl's an idiot. She seriously thinks someone will take that awful request. This has gotta be something like, she's been cooped up in a cave so long she doesn't know how scary dragons are or something, right?
Erza heaved a sigh and turned back to Jenny. "Let me ask you one question… Just what do you think dragons are?"
"Hm? Huge lizards, right?"
"Are you stupid?!"
That was when all three of them realized that while this dwarf girl named Jenny might be skilled, she was both ignorant and foolish. But unlike Erza and Juvia, who were both dumbfounded and exasperated, the ends of Naru's mouth turned upwards amusedly. I've found someone interesting.
Even if she didn't put it into words, her expression did all the talking for her.
"Oh ho… So dragons are that strong, huh? I just thought they were like those huge lizards you see around the place…"
"Those are wyverns, idiot. They look similar, but they're completely different."
"I see. No wonder why no one ever came to ask about it, no matter how long I waited…" The dwarf girl nodded her head repeatedly in understanding as Erza gave Jenny a proper explanation of what dragons were.
It seems as if she just didn't know the difference between a dinosaur and a proper dragon, Erza surmised. Well, it is true that they look really similar.
The smaller dragons are especially easy to mistake, even by veteran adventurers. So basically, she just thought that dragons were strong lizards, that she was posting a simple request to go punch one out and take a fang, and was really confused about why no one would accept it.
In that confusion, Jenny splurged and increased the reward, but still no one would come. She also considered that she'd made a mistake in how she posted the request and went to check, but there was nothing wrong with it.
Hmm, I wonder why? Jenny had thought. This sure is strange. Every day, she wondered why no adventurers would accept her request. But it was only natural. After all, the request was just like saying, "Hey, can you go die for me?" Leaving aside any with a death wish, people would never accept it.
Jenny finally understood that fact, nodding as she said, "So that's why. If that's the case, then of course no one would come to ask about the request. So, my ignorance almost sent adventurers to their deaths…"
"No, there's no one stupid enough to take it, so it's not even close to 'almost.'"
"Hmm, but this is still troubling…" Jenny muttered, once again nodding her head.
"What is?"
"Well, I only caught a glimpse of it when I passed by the ruins, but that dragon's fang will definitely make for a good weapon. That's what my instincts are telling me." Jenny answered Juvia's question with an answer full of lingering attachment and tenacity towards the dragon's fang.
"Well of course. It's a dragon's fang. It'll totally make for a good weapon, but…" Juvia, exasperated, heaved a sigh.
It was true that a dragon's fang would make great material for a weapon, especially with Jenny's skills. That point was never in question. But in order to get that fang, someone would have to fight a dragon. It was far too risky.
Still, Juvia expected Jenny would finally give up now that it had all been explained to him.
"Okay!" Jenny exclaimed, seeming to have come to some sort of conclusion, before she went back to the back of the store.
The three adventurers were left wondering what was up for a few minutes as they waited. When Jenny showed herself again, she was wielding a battle axe and wearing a steel set of armor that she'd most likely made herself.
"Huh? Hey, what're you planning to do, looking like that?"
"Sorry, but the shop is closed now. I'll be out for a few days." Jenny walked to the exit, her armor clanking all the way, before shooing Erza and the others out of her store.
Erza got a bad feeling, seeing her gear and judging from the fact that she said she'd be out for a few days. Hesitantly, she asked, "Hey, wait a second… I can't believe I'm asking this, but… are you going to go fight the dragon right now?"
"Indeed I am!"
"What do you mean 'indeed'?! Are you an idiot?! What did we just tell you?!"
"I heard what you said, and that's why I'm going out by myself. No matter how long I wait, there won't be any adventurers who'll take my request. That means I have no choice but to go myself."
"What?!"
After that exclamation, Erza was convinced that this dwarf girl was the type to die young chasing her dreams. Everybody who made their living through combat, not just adventurers, knew that those who couldn't accurately read their opponent's strength died first. This was something that everybody learned with a bit of experience, and Erza was no exception.
Erza seemed like a frank and somewhat unthinking type of girl, but she wouldn't get into a fight she had no chance of winning. Even she knew that was suicide.
But this dwarf girl didn't have any of that experience. Either that or she was ignoring what experience was telling her. The axe and armor she was using were most likely first-rate. They seemed very well-made. But it would still be impossible to fight evenly with a dragon with them. However, Jenny would hear none of it, no matter how hard Erza tried to stop her. After closing up shop, she clanked off immediately.
Erza watched Jenny's receding form as she shook her head. "That girl's a genuine idiot. There's no way she can win against a dragon."
"But this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. To think we'd be seeing someone we just met today off to their death… It feels like we let her die."
"There was no helping it, right? No matter what I said, that girl wouldn't listen. Even if we managed to stop her today, she's the type to push herself and die somewhere else, anyway."
There was no way Erza and Juvia wouldn't feel anything having parted with Jenny like that. While this was the first time they'd met, both of them liked Jenny's big-hearted personality, so knowing that they would never see her again was hard on them. But there was no way to stop Jenny, since she was so gung ho about heading to her own death, and neither of them were soft-hearted enough to kill themselves along with Jenny.
There's nothing we can do… At least, that was the excuse they made to themselves in their hearts.
On the other hand, Naru never stopped smiling throughout that entire exchange. "That's right. It's as Erza says. She's a fool with a large amount of talent and enough passion to not only chase her dreams but chase them until death. Even if we managed to stop her here, she'd definitely find someplace somewhere to rush to her death."
"Yeah, that's just how she is… It's too bad, though. With her skills, she'd have made some really good weapons if she were still alive."
"Yeah, that's true. She has enough talent to be able to reach her dreams as long as she doesn't die early… What an interesting woman." Naru's grin deepened, and she started walking.
The other two in her party were taken by surprise, and Naru followed up on that by dropping a bomb on them with her back still turned. "Sorry, but you two take on today's request by yourselves. I've got something I want to do."
"S-something…? Hey, you don't mean…?!"
"I'll go take that girl's request."
Horrified by what Naru just said, Erza and Juvia hurriedly ran up beside her. They tried to stop her and dissuade her from that idea, but Naru never stopped walking. She only got closer and closer to Jenny.
"Hey, come on. That's not funny! You know yourself how strong dragons are, right?!"
"I know. And I'm confident I can win."
"Well, you actually might, but it's a dragon, you know?! What if you're not strong enough?!"
"Then that just means this is all I ever amounted to. There's no problem with that."
"There's nothing but problems!"
Erza and Juvia's words had no effect. Once Naru decided on something, the straightforward stubbornness with which she pursued it was not dissimilar to Jenny's.
She caught up to Jenny and called out to her. "Wait a second… Uhhh, your name was Jenny, right? If you'd like, I can take on your request."
"Hm? That'd be great, but… are you sure?"
"Indeed. But given the contents… You're going to have to splurge on the reward." Naru smiled as she requested a change to her payment. It was only natural. Only 50,000 el for defeating a dragon was far too little.
Jenny understood this, but she still groaned. "Well, that's only natural. But… I don't have that kind of money. The 50,000 is all I have."
50,000 el was too cheap for a dragon slaying, but it was a lot of money for normal life. It would take several years at a normal job to be able to earn 50,000 el. It was enough to buy a house. It was a lot of money, speaking from a commoner's point of view. And Jenny couldn't pay any more than that.
But Naru seemed to have expected that, since she only laughed softly. "I don't need money. In exchange… I want the weapon you make with the dragon's fang."
"O-ohh! That's what you're getting at! But that's… If I give you the weapon, then why would I have gone through all this trouble to get a fang…?"
"Don't worry about it. You'll get more than enough fangs."
Of course, the entire reason Jenny wanted the dragon defeated was to obtain a fang. Giving that fang away would be putting the cart before the horse. Jenny would get nothing out of it. But Naru seemed to have expected that, and her belligerent smile deepened.
"I won't be stingy about only giving you one fang. You can have its claws and scales, too, if you'd like. I'm saying I'll give you an entire dragon's corpse… A weapon made from a single fang would be cheap in comparison, no?"
"Y-you're going to kill it? A dragon? A-aren't they strong?"
"Yeah, they are. But not as strong as I am."
Jenny took a good look at Naru after she said that so confidently.
Overconfident people weren't exactly rare. There were a lot of newbie adventurers who were ignorant in the ways of the world and dreamed of starring in a heroic tale about defeating a dragon. But over half of those people wouldn't be able to defeat a low-ranking monster, let alone a dragon, and they paid for that lack of knowledge. The half of those fools who survived such an experience learned how to accept reality, as well as how to accurately measure their own abilities.
But Naru didn't fit into that category. She said that with full knowledge of how strong dragons were. In other words, she was just that confident.
"…Interesting! Well, I'd be going with or without you, so I guess it'll be all right to bet on if you're bluffing or not."
"That'd be a boring bet. You know I'm going to win, right?"
Jenny and Naru both laughed and high-fived. Then, with no hesitation, they both started walking.
Of course, both Erza and Juvia were panicking.
"W-Wait a second! Okay already, I'm going, too! I'm going!"
"Hey, what?! Erza?!… Agghh, fine!"
In the end, the two of them were still adventurers. There was no way they didn't dream of beating a dragon. Most importantly, they knew they would regret it if they left Naru alone. If Naru died, they would have basically killed her. If she came back, her equipment would be much better than theirs, and the gap in power between them would get even wider. So they had no choice but to follow along. Their fates were intertwined. If they died, they would die together.
The two of them caught up to Naru, glaring at her for her decision, but she didn't seem to care. She was brazen to the end.
"Awww. You two didn't need to come, you know," Naru spouted, wide-eyed, causing the two of them to smack her in the head. Naru angrily shouted, "Why?!" But they needed to get back at her that much, at least.